GPS microphone for communication system

ABSTRACT

A GPS microphone, which is adapted for incorporating a communication system, includes a speaker-microphone set, a radio frequency transmitter communicatively networked with the communication system through radio frequency signals, and a GPS controller electrically connected with the radio frequency transmitter to encode a positioning data into a RF positioning signal in form of audio signal wherein when the GPS controller is triggered, the radio frequency transmitter is activated to transmit RF positioning signal to the communication system.

BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a communication system, and moreparticularly to a GPS microphone for a communication system, wherein theGPS microphone is capable of sending out positioning data in form of anaudio signal to a control center such that the GPS microphone supportsboth the communication provision and the position location provision.

2. Description of Related Arts

Communication devices, such as cellular phone, satellites phone and“Pocket PC”, are considered as one of the common communication tools,wherein a user is able to wirelessly communicate with another user bymeans of the communication device via a public network. A communicationdevice generally comprises a microphone speaker and a modem connectedwith the microphone speaker in such a manner that when the microphonespeaker receives an audio signal, the audio signal is encoded to adigital data and sent out in a wireless manner.

Nowadays, the communication devices can be incorporated with a GlobalPositioning System (GPS) for tracking the location of the user, whereinthe common GPS generally comprises a built-in GPS receiver equipped withthe modem to wirelessly send out a positioning data through thecommunication device. In order to receive the GPS positioning data, thecommunication device must employ a processor unit arranged in such amanner that after the processor unit receives the positioning data, thepositioning data is decoded to a readable data so that the user is ableto locate the position of the sender.

However, such GPS incorporated communication device has severaldrawbacks. The communication device must be employed with the modem forwirelessly transmitting both the audio signal and the positioning data,which will highly increase the manufacturing cost of the communicationdevice. Furthermore, the data transmission speed of the modem isinconsistent such that there is always a delay when both the audiosignal and the positioning data are sent out.

In addition, some low-end communication devices, which is using a radiofrequency, such as radios and Walkie-Talkie, cannot incorporate with theGPS since the radio frequency does not required such modem for signaltransmission. Therefore, the GPS must be independently installed toprovide positioning data.

For example, while patrolling, police officers or security officersgenerally must arm with a radio frequency communication device to keepcontact with the control center. For safety and arrangement purposes,their locations are preferred to be tracked by the control center sothat the control center can give assistance to them in case ofemergency. However, the police officers or the security officers mustcarry an additional GPS device in order to send out the positioningsignal to the control center. In other words, the additional GPS devicewill increase the load of the police officers or the security officerswhile patrolling.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

A main object of the present invention is to provide a GPS microphonefor a communication system, wherein the GPS microphone is capable ofsending out positioning data in form of an audio signal to a controlcenter such that the GPS microphone supports both the communicationprovision and the position location provision.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a GPS microphonefor a communication system, wherein the positioning data is transmittedthrough a radio frequency so as to provide an instant positioninglocation to the communication system in a wireless communication manner.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a GPS microphonefor a communication system, wherein a conventional microphone can beupgraded to form the GPS microphone without modifying the original radiofrequency transmitting system of the conventional microphone and thecommunication system, so as to minimize the manufacturing cost of thecommunication system incorporating with the GPS microphone.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a GPS microphonefor a communication system, which successfully provides an economic andefficient solution for transmitting the positioning data from the GPSmicrophone to the communication system through the radio frequency.

Accordingly, in order to accomplish the above objects, the presentinvention provides a GPS microphone for a communication system,comprising a speaker-microphone set, a radio frequency transmittercommunicatively networked with the communication system through radiofrequency signals, and a GPS controller electrically connected with theradio frequency transmitter to encode a positioning data into a RFpositioning signal in form of audio signal wherein when the GPScontroller is triggered, the radio frequency transmitter is activated totransmit RF positioning signal to the communication system.

In addition, the present invention further provides a process oftransmitting a positioning data to a communication system from a GPSmicrophone which comprises a speaker-microphone set, a radio frequencytransmitter and a GPS controller, the process comprising the steps of:

(a) communicatively networking the radio frequency transmitter to thecommunication system through radio frequency signals;

(b) activating the GPS controller to encode the positioning date into aRF positioning signal in form of audio signal; and

(c) activating the radio frequency transmitter to transmit the RFpositioning signal to the communication system.

These and other objectives, features, and advantages of the presentinvention will become apparent from the following detailed description,the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a GPS microphone for a communication systemaccording to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart for transmitting a positioning data from the GPSmicrophone for the communication system according to the preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates an alternative mode of the communication systemaccording to the above preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3 of the drawings, a GPS microphone for acommunication system according to a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention is illustrated, wherein the GPS microphone comprises aspeaker-microphone set 10, a radio frequency transmitter 20communicatively networked with the communication system through radiofrequency signals, and a GPS controller 30 electrically connected withthe radio frequency transmitter 20 to encode a positioning data into aRF positioning signal in form of audio signal, wherein when the GPScontroller 30 is triggered, the radio frequency transmitter 20 isactivated to transmit RF positioning signal to the communication system.

The speaker-microphone set 10 comprises a microphone 11, a speaker 12,and a PTT (push-to-talk) circuitry 13 arranged in such a manner thatwhen the PTT circuitry 13 is triggered to activate the microphone 11 ina transmit mode, the microphone 11 is capable of receiving and encodinga voice message into an audio signal.

According to the preferred embodiment, the speaker-microphone set 10 canbe a conventional push-to-talk wireless communication system, such as atwo-way radio system, wherein when the PTT circuitry 13 is triggered,the microphone 11 is ready to receive the audio signal and transmit theaudio signal to the communication system through the radio frequencytransmitter 20.

The radio frequency transmitter 20 of the GPS microphone is a radiofrequency transmitting device adapted to send and receive the radiofrequency, wherein the radio frequency transmitter 20 functions as awireless communication link between the GPS microphone and thecommunication system. Accordingly, when the communication system is atwo-way radio system, the radio frequency transmitter 20 can be a datapacket modem, such as a half-duplex data modem, to transmit the audiosignal from the GPS microphone to the communication system.

The radio frequency transmitter 20 can be automatically or manuallytuned to communicate with another communication system by matching thesame radio frequency. In other words, more than one GPS microphone canbe set to use the same radio frequency by the manufacturer or securityservice company. Alternatively, the user is also able to manually tunethe radio frequency transmitter 20 to communicatively network withanother desirable communication system or automatically tune the radiofrequency transmitter 20 to search another communication system that ispositioned within the coverage area with respect to communicationsystem.

The GPS controller 30 comprises means 31 for receiving the positioningdata from an external position transponder system, such as an externalGPS satellites, and a signal converter 32 arranged to convert thepositioning data into the RF positioning signal, wherein the RFpositioning signal is transmitted to the communication system throughthe radio frequency transmitter 20.

The receiving means 31 according to the preferred embodiment is aposition information receptor, such as a GPS antenna, adapted forwirelessly communicating with the GPS satellites so as to receive thepositioning date therefrom. The receiving means 31 performs physicalinterface layer processing, correlates the data, and provides it througha component interface with a particular format and protocol. The citedexample with the GPS controller 30 assumes NMEA-0183 message formats.However, alternative GPS message formats, such as Trimble's proprietaryTSIP format, would also apply. Also, besides GPS, other positioningsystems, such as IMU, are also supported by the architecture.

The GPS microphone further comprises a portable case 101 to receive theradio frequency transmitter 20, the GPS controller 30, and a powersource 102 providing electrical power supply to the speaker-microphoneset 10, the radio frequency transmitter 20, and the GPS controller 30.Accordingly, the power source 102 of the GPS microphone comprises arechargeable battery disposed in the portable case 101 wherein therechargeable battery is electrically connected to speaker-microphone set10 to supply electricity.

As shown in FIG. 2, the present invention further provides a process oftransmitting the positioning data from the GPS microphone to thecommunication system, which comprises the following steps.

(1) Communicatively network the radio frequency transmitter 20 to thecommunication system through radio frequency signals.

(2) Activate the GPS controller 30 to encode the positioning date intothe RF positioning signal in form of audio signal.

(3) Activate the radio frequency transmitter 20 to transmit the RFpositioning signal to the communication system.

In step (1), the communication system should provide a coverage areawherein when the radio frequency transmitter 20 is located within thecoverage area, the GPS microphone is capable of communicativelynetworking with the communication system. Once the communicationconnection is established, the radio transmitter 20 is capable of notonly sending out the audio signal from the speaker-microphone set 10 butalso transmitting the RF positioning signal from the GPS controller 30.

In step (2), the GPS controller 30 can be activated when the PTTcircuitry 13 of the speaker-microphone set 10 is triggered wherein theaudio signal from the speaker-microphone set 10 is combined with the RFpositioning signal from the GSP controller 30 to form an informationsignal so as to transmit to the communication system through the radiofrequency transmitter 20. In other words, once the user triggers the PTTcircuitry 13 to communicate with the communication system, the GPScontroller 30 is automatically activated to receive the positioning dataand to encode the positioning data into the RF positioning signal so asto send out the information signal having the RF positioning signal andthe audio signal via the radio frequency transmitter 20. In addition,the communication system is preferably recorded the information signalfrom the GPS microphone as a positioning location history for safetypurpose.

Accordingly, the radio frequency transmitter 20 further generates anidentification signal, which is in form of the audio signal, withrespect to the speaker-microphone set 10 wherein when the RF positioningsignal is transmitted from the radio frequency transmitter 20, theidentification signal is combined with the RF positioning signal totransmit to the communication system. The main purpose of theidentification signal is to identify the respective GPS microphone whenmore than one GPS microphones are used at the same time. In other words,the radio frequency transmitter 20 is arranged to transmit theinformation signal which comprises the audio signal, the RF positioningsignal, and the identification signal to the communication system.

Alternatively, the GPS controller 30 can be preset to be automaticallyactivated for receiving the positioning data for a predetermined periodof time in the step (2). For example, the user is able to preset the GPScontroller 30 to receive the positioning data for every ten minutes insuch a manner that once the GPS controller 30 encodes the RF positioningsignal, the radio frequency transmitter 20 is ready to transmit the RFpositioning signal to the communication system even there is no audiosignal received from the speaker-microphone set 10.

In addition, the GPS controller 30 is activated when a request is sentfrom the communication system. Accordingly, the request is a RF signalsent from the communication system and is received by the radiofrequency transmitter 20 wherein the request is arranged toautomatically activate the GPS controller 30 receive the positioningdata so as to transmit the RF positioning signal to the communicationsystem as a feedback. It is important that when the user is unable toactivate the GPS controller 30, the communication system is capable ofremotely controlling the activation of the GPS controller 30 to trackthe positioning location of the user. Furthermore, the GPS controller 30can be manually activated by the user by simply switching on the GPScontroller 30, such as pressing an activation button of the GPScontroller 30.

The communication system, according to the preferred embodiment,comprises a control center 40 which comprises means 41 for receiving theinformation signal from the GPS microphone and means 42 for decoding theinformation signal from the receiving means 41, and a processor center50 converting the RF positioning signal back to the positioning data.The receiving means 41 is a signal receiver to communicatively networkwith the GPS microphone through the radio frequency signals.

The decoding means 42 is a signal decoder adapted for decoding theinformation signal received by the receiving means 41. Accordingly, whenthe information signal, which is combined the audio signal, the RFpositioning signal, with the identification signal, is received by thereceiving means 41, the decoding means 42 is arranged to decode theaudio signal to a readable audio data while the RF positioning signaland the identification signal are then transmitted to the processorcenter 50.

Accordingly, the processor center 50 is arranged to convert the RFpositioning signal into a readable positioning data in such a mannerthat the communication system is adapted to identify the respective GPSmicrophone through the identification signal and locate the position ofthe GPS microphone according to the readable positioning data. It isworth to mention that when the GPS controller 30 of the GPS microphoneis preset to be activated for a period of time, only the RF positioningsignal and the identification signal are transmitted to the signalprocessor 50 while no audio signal is decoded into the readable audiodata.

FIG. 1 illustrates am example of a use of the GPS microphone. Forexample, while patrolling, the police officer should carry the GPSmicrophone wherein the communication system is installed into thevehicle. Once the communication network is established between the radiofrequency transmitter 20 and the communication system, the GPSmicrophone is capable of transmitting the RF positioning signal to thecommunication system through the radio frequency transmitter 20.Therefore, another police officer in the vehicle is able to keep trackthe location of the police officer carrying the GPS microphone.

FIG. 3 illustrates another example of the GPS microphone, wherein thecontrol center 40 is installed into the vehicle while the processorcenter 50 is located at the police station in such a manner that thepolice office carrying the GPS microphone is able to communicate withthe police office in the vehicle as a conventional two-way radio systemwhile the positioning data is transmitted from the GSP microphone to theprocessor center 50 through the control center 40. In other words, thecontrol center 40 functions as a communication center to the GPSmicrophone wherein the control center is capable of communicativelynetworking with the processor center 50 to transmit the positioning datafor a long coverage distance.

One skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of thepresent invention as shown in the drawings and described above isexemplary only and not intended to be limiting.

It will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have beenfully and effectively accomplished. It embodiments have been shown anddescribed for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structuralprinciples of the present invention and is subject to change withoutdeparture form such principles. Therefore, this invention includes allmodifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the followingclaims.

1. A GPS communication apparatus for transmitting a positioning data toa communication system, comprising a GPS microphone which comprises: aspeaker-microphone set which comprises a microphone, a speaker, and aPTT (Push-To-Talk) circuitry arranged in such a manner that when saidPTT circuitry is triggered to activate said microphone in a transmitmode, said microphone is capable of receiving and encoding a voicemessage into an audio signal; a radio frequency transmittercommunicatively networking with said communication system through radiofrequency signals, and a GPS controller electrically connected with saidradio frequency transmitter to encode positioning data into one or moreRF positioning signals in form of audio signals, wherein when said GPScontroller is triggered, said radio frequency transmitter is activatedfor transmitting said RF positioning signal to said communicationsystem, wherein said GPS controller is activated when said PTT circuitryis triggered in such a manner that said audio signal from saidspeaker-microphone set and said RF positioning signals from said GPScontroller are combined to form an information signal for transmittingto said communication system.
 2. The GPS communication apparatus, asrecited in claim 1, wherein said radio frequency transmitter furthergenerates an identification signal, which is in form of an audio signal,with respect to said speaker-microphone set, wherein when said RFpositioning signals are transmitted from said radio frequencytransmitter, said identification signal is combined with said RFpositioning signals for transmitting to said communication system. 3.The GPS communication apparatus, as recited in claim 1, wherein saidradio frequency transmitter is a radio transmitting device adapted tosend and receive said radio frequency, wherein said radio frequencytransmitter functions as a wireless communication link between said GPSmicrophone and said communication system.
 4. The GPS communicationapparatus, as recited in claim 1, wherein said communication systemcomprises a control center which comprises a signal receivercommunicatively networking with said GPS microphone through said radiofrequency signals for receiving said information signal form said GPSmicrophone, means for decoding said information signal form saidreceiving means, and a processor center converting said RF positioningsignals back to said positioning data.
 5. The GPS communicationapparatus, as recited in claim 2, wherein said communication systemcomprises a control center which comprises a signal receivercommunicatively networking with said GPS microphone through said radiofrequency signals for receiving said information signal form said GPSmicrophone, means for decoding said information signal form saidreceiving means, and a processor center converting said RF positioningsignals back to said positioning data.
 6. The GPS communicationapparatus, as recited in claim 3, wherein said communication systemcomprises a control center which comprises a signal receivercommunicatively networking with said GPS microphone through said radiofrequency signals for receiving said information signal form said GPSmicrophone, means for decoding said information signal form saidreceiving means, and a processor center converting said RF positioningsignals back to said positioning data.
 7. A process of transmitting apositioning data to a communication system from a GPS microphone whichcomprises a speaker-microphone set which comprises a PTT circuitryarranged to activate said speaker-microphone set, a radio frequencytransmitter and a GPS controller being activated when said PTT circuitryis triggered, wherein the process comprises the steps of: (a)communicatively networking said radio frequency transmitter to saidcommunication system through radio frequency signals; (b) encodingpositioning data, by said GPS controller, into one or more RFpositioning signals in form of audio signals; and (c) activating saidradio frequency transmitter to transmit said RF positioning signals tosaid communication system.
 8. The process, as recited in claim 7,wherein the step (c) further comprises a step of generating anidentification signal, which is in form of audio signal, with respect tosaid speaker-microphone set, wherein said identification signal iscombined with said RF positioning signals to transmit to saidcommunication system when said RF positioning signals are transmittedfrom said radio frequency transmitter.
 9. The process, as recited inclaim 8, wherein the step (b) further comprises a step of combining saidRF positioning signals with an audio signal from said speaker-microphoneset before said RF positioning signals are sent to said communicationsystem.
 10. The process, as recited in claim 9, further comprising astep of decoding said RF positioning signals to a readable positioningdata at said communication system.